


Remain Nameless

by Newt



Series: Newt's Twins Week! [4]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, Twinsweek, my explanation for the last name business, with taako and taaco and all that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-31
Updated: 2018-01-31
Packaged: 2019-03-11 22:40:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13534023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Newt/pseuds/Newt
Summary: What's in a name?





	Remain Nameless

“So, what’s it gonna be this time?” asked Lup, tapping the end of her pen against her forms.

 

Taako blew a lock of hair out of his face, and sat up from where he was hunched over his own forms.

 

“Wasn’t it your turn last time? I’d say Taako time for sure.”

 

“No, that’s not right,” said Lup, voice fake-considering.

 

“Um, yeah, I think I remember these things. You put in like four “h”es last time, it was incredible.”

 

Lup tapped her pen faster.

 

“Nooo, that was the time before last. Search your beautiful little mind, there, babe.”

 

Taako sighed, reaching into the pocket of his robes. He pulled out a single coin, balancing it on the side of his thumb.

 

“A coin flip, then?”

 

“Love it. Heads,” called Lup, as Taako flipped the piece into the air.

 

It spun for a while, as Lup watched with eagle eyes. Taako fought to keep his face steady.

 

“Tails. Taako time.”

 

Lup frowned.

 

“Nope, no thanks. That’s a weighted coin, and you lose automatically for trying to cheat your dear sister.”

 

Taako groaned. He knew her perception was too good for this. 

 

“Fine. But make it good.”

 

Lup hummed, spinning around the pen and pressing the writing end to the paper.

 

“Of course. It’s gonna be L-O-U-P-E.”

 

Taako snorted, copying it down on his own form.

 

“Okay, that’s pretty great, actually. Good call.”

 

“Naturally.”

 

They fell into silence again, filling out the rest of the forms for their new jobs with this new caravan. With every new beginning, the twins needed new names.

 

Like everyone else, Taako and Lup were given last names when they were born. It was one of several things that were wrongly assigned to them at birth. They had been tied to a family that hated them, that threw them out, that saw them as collateral. This assigned last name was a bitter reminder of the people who had failed them since their first breaths in the world. They threw out this last name as soon as they were old enough to remember it.

 

Their first names were pretty sweet, though.

 

“I’m calling it now, we’re doing T-A-W-C-K-O-H next time,” said Taako, stacking up his completed forms and slipping them into a manila envelope. Lup snorted.

 

“What, cuz we don’t get enough trouble with people pronouncing our first names wrong?”

 

“That’s their bad.”

 

“Hm.”

 

If Lup had a dime for every time she got “Luhp”, like, rhyming with cup, or Taako got some weird version of “Tay-ko”, she could comfortably retire and never have to fill out one of these damn forms ever again. 

 

Lup collected the forms, and brought them out to the supervisor, Taako never far behind.

 

They slid into their new job with ease, just as they always did. The crew was grateful for their food, but not so thrilled about having to pay two of them for a job one of them could do. Of all the reasons they got kicked out of places, this one was pretty common. But the two of them were a package deal, and they moved on.

 

They applied to magic school under “Lup Lewpptaackouh” and “Taako Lewpptaackouh”, which was a triumph of a drunken night of teamwork. The dean tripped over the name as they walked across the stage for their diplomas.

 

When they signed up for the IPRE, they went back to their roots. A fair coin flip, this time, and they were Lup Taaco and Taako Taaco.

 

Over one hundred years later, the name was stuck to them. Taako laughed about it (“Well, them’s the breaks, sis”) and Lup was just ticked off every time it was mentioned. No one ever asked about their original last name, because it didn’t matter. Names weren’t important when your family was grown through the blood and sweat and tears of a century of running.

 

After landing in Faerun, the Taaco name still stuck. Something about the two of them, and finding a home aboard the Starblaster for a hundred painful and beautiful years. Something about bonds, and piano music, and cheating death. Their names were a part of them, now, even though it had started as a joke. A lot of good things do.

 

The most important thing, in the end, was that Taako and Lup were always a family. They grew and changed and shifted together, into a future that they fought tooth and nail to build for themselves.

 

In the end, the Taaco twins were happy. And no name could change that.

**Author's Note:**

> Day 4 already! Today is a free space or a space for headcanons, so here’s a headcanon I’ve had for a while now about Taako’s last name. Justin said that Taako probably has a real last name, but still called him "Taako Taaco" in a live show. So, like, here's something that's consistent with both of those things.


End file.
